Mizzou football breaks down competition at fall camp, ahead of first practice

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

There's only word that can describe Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz's sixth fall camp in Columbia best: competitive. With returning talent and key transfer portal additions, the leader of Tiger football may just have his deepest team, yet.

With depth, comes competition and that all starts at the quarterback position.

During spring camp, Coach Drinkwitz declared the battle for the job as starting quarterback a two-man race between Penn State transfer Beau Pribula and returner Sam Horn. However, on Sunday, he clarified that true freshman Matt Zollers isn't out of the race, quite yet.

"You know, he's gonna have to really come in and come on in fall camp, but that's not been unheard of," Drinkwitz said.

You can watch the full press conference with Drinkwitz, as well as offensive coordinator Kirby Moore and Zollers in the video players below.

When asked about the timetable for making a decision as to who will be the starter behind center, Coach Eli said they don't have one, adding that the starting quarterback will show himself to the team when he is ready. If it's something that has to stretch into the first game, that's not something they are afraid of.

Through fall camp, Coach Drinkwitz said the biggest characteristic he will look for in his starter is consistency is decision-making.

"We have five requirements to play the position," he said. "Toughness, preparation, decision-making, accuracy and leadership and we'll evaluate all five of those each day, but at the end of the day it's consistent decision-making. I actually just met with the quarterback and kind of outlined it for them, how we were going to go about this, how the reps are divided up and encouraged them all to run their own race. You can't get caught up in this guy's doing something good and you've had a bad day. I told them straight up, you know, one bad day is not going to decide the competition, but two might. There's gonna have to be a consistency of your approach."

Pribula and Horn are both coming into fall camp with a level-headed approach to the competition, as each quarterback took time to compliment the other, on Sunday.

Pribula will come in to his time in Columbia with experience playing under starter Drew Allar at Penn State. When he was asked about why he should be the starting quarterback at Mizzou, the Pennsylvania native said it's all about believing in yourself.

"I mean, why wouldn't you believe in yourself? That's really the only thing you have to do," Pribula said. "All the game experience I had in big time games, on the road and games like the Big 10 championship and all that stuff, I think it just helps having experience, in general. That goes for anything. Experience in tough environments or in just home games and everything, you know, it's not anything new. So, when we go on the road this year or even at home, it's not something that will just be brand new to me."

You can watch the full press conference with Pribula in the video player below.

When asked why he should be the starting quarterback in Columbia, as well, Horn said he can - of course - list of all of his traits, but either way both of them are well-suited for the job.

Horn is coming into fall camp fresh off of being selected in the 17th round of the MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He said he's still speaking to his agent about the process, but is laser-focused on competing in fall camp, right now.

2025 will not be the Georgia native's first quarterback competition at Mizzou. In fact, he went against three-year starter Brady Cook, ahead of the 2023 campaign. He said over the year he learned a lot from Cook about what it takes to lead the Tigers.

"Brady was really good with preparation," Horn said. "I thought being prepared is probably one of the best things I can do as quarterback."

You can watch the full press conference with Horn in the video player below.

Whoever ends up being the starter will have quite a few weapons to work with, thanks to some big time additions for Coach Drinkwitz.

The wide receiver room is stacked with talent, including returners Marquis Johnson, Joshua Manning, Daniel Blood and James Madison II. Coach Eli also brought former Mississippi State star Kevin Coleman Jr., a St. Louis native, in the offseason.

"I'm definitely going to be a guy that when the ball's in my hand, you're gonna think I'm scoring every time. That's my mindset. Every time I touch the ball, I'm trying to score. I'm not thinking first down. I'm thinking change the game, change the energy and make the crowd stand up," Coleman Jr. said.

You can watch the full press conference with Coleman Jr. in the video player below.

Johnson will be the veteran of the room, entering his upperclassman era in Columbia. He said a big goal for him in fall camp will be working on his leadership.

"Just me speaking up, voicing my opinion, getting around my guys and just being more of a leader than what I was. I was more of quiet, behind everybody because as a freshman and sophomore that's how you are," Johnson said. "I know going into this year I have to speak up a little bit more and actually use my man voice."

You can watch the full press conference with Johnson, as well as tight end Brett Norfleet in the video players below.

There's also plenty of competition on Mizzou's offensive line, as well. The Tigers are returning veterans Connor Tollison and Cayden Green in 2025, but have a heated battle for the left tackle position.

Offensive line coach Brandon Jones said the most important thing that he'll be looking for is consistency.

"The guy that can protect the quarterback the most and the best and who an separate themself day-in and day-out," Jones said. "We have the best defensive end room in the country, so you're going to get a very good evaluation day-in and day-out, based on the competition that they're gonna face."

You can watch the full press conference with Jones, as well as lineman Cayden Green and running back Ahmad Hardy in the video players below.

Expectations on the other side of the ball are high, as well. When players were asked about what the ceiling for the defense would be in the 2025, they all said you can't put a ceiling on it. The expectation is to take another step up from last year, with all the talent Coach Drinkwitz brought in in the offseason.

You can watch the full press conference with defensive coordinator Corey Batoon in the video player below.

Each and every position comes with quite a bit of depth, but Coach Eli has hammered home just how talented the defensive end room is, specifically.

"We have a lot of speed, I mean we're not like big, chunky guys cause we're all about 260, 245, 250 range and we're just speed and explosion. That's what I like to be around," Georgia transfer Damon Wilson said.

You can watch the full press conference with Wilson, as well as defensive end coach Brian Early in the video players below.

The battle at the cornerback position will be another key area to watch during fall camp. Over the offseason, Coach Drinkwitz said that group needed to improve from what fans saw in 2024.

Returner Toriano Pride Jr. said the depth and competition in that room is exciting for him.

"I like the depth. We got great depth. I feel like everybody's good in the room. We've been working all summer and I like the fact that we got a lot of old guys in the room," he said.

You can watch the full press conference with Pride Jr. in the video player below.

You can also watch the rest of the interviews with key members of the MU defense in the video players below.

Mizzou will kick off a competitive fall camp on Monday, July 28 with its first practice at 11 a.m.